Rockabye •Descendants

rockabye •twenty-eight

Days passed slowly and no rest with in the castle. Eight days had passed by since the disastrous dinner, and since then no one had seen Serena or Athena. Not her parents, not Melody or Louise, not even Chad had seen her at school. Ariel and Melody had ceased to talk after their fight about what Ariel had done. No one was at peace.

No one outside of the family and a few selected people knew that the mother and daughter were nowhere to be seen. Eric often left the castle and went searching for his girls, but came back alone every time.

Ariel did find that a suitcase belonging to Athena was missing, along with many of her clothes. The same had occurred to Serena. No note was left behind, not one clue. Ariel was distressed and no one was able to calm her. She insisted they call her father for help, but Eric had convinced her it was not a good idea. Melody's castle had been searched as well for the missing mother and daughter, but to no avail.

They were just gone...

Back in Auradon, Ben wasn't much better. He kept himself locked in his room and had refused to eat. Eventually, hunger got to him, but still stayed away. Not even Mal could cheer him up.

I hate you Athena's little voice boomed in his head and heart. His daughter hates him. He saw his faults now. Not just of that night, but of four years ago. He let his cowardly younger self be controlled by what he thought was the right decision. He let his parents make the decisions for him in abandoning his girlfriend and child.

Abandoned. You abandoned them! You choose the cowards way out and ran. You brought this on yourself, Ben. He scowled himself. He punched his bed repeatedly out of anger and screaming into his pillow. A loud and aggressive knock came from his door as well as multiple voice.

"Open up, Ben!" That was Chad's voice unmistakably.

"Mister Charming, you have no right to come up here and cause such a ruckus!" That voice belonged to Mrs. Potts, scowling at Chad. Ben rose from his bed and did opened the door, but just a crack. There stood not just Chad and Mrs. Potts, Ginny and Audrey as well. Audrey had covered his nose the minute the smell of Ben hit her nose. He sticked, literally since he had also not showered her a few days.

"What do you want?"

"Jeez, Ben. Ever heard of soap and water?" Ginny jokes, but no one found it humorous. "Tough crowd..."

"We need to talk, Ben." Audrey says.

"If you want me to call the guards to escort them out, I will." Mrs. Potts tells Ben, waiting for his answer.

"It's alright, Mrs. Potts." Ben waves away. Mrs. Potts nods in concern to the sad prince and left, but not before smacking Chad in the back of the head for being rude. Ben leaves his door open for the others to come in and crashes back into his bed. If Audrey thought Ben smelled bad, his room was worse. Clothes and objects cluttered the floor. Dirty dishes piled on his desk. The curtains kept the bright sunlight out of the room. It was a depressing room.

"Damn, Ben, and I thought my brother's room was a pigsty..." Ginny looked around at the boy's room.

"Why are you here?" Ben asked, buried his face in his sheets. Chad grunted and crossed his arms at Ben's attitude.

"I don't see why your locking yourself away, you started this whole problem." Chad muttered out of anger, which Ben very much caught. He looks up a glares at his soon to be ex-friend.

"Oh my God, could you two not fight right now? We have a serious problem right now." Audrey interrupts before either boy could say anything. She looks at Ben and takes a deep breathe. "Ben, Serena and Athena have gone missing."

That jolted Ben out of his Ben with wide eyes.

"What?!"

"Yup, disappeared into the night, never to be seen again." Ginny jokes, as if it wasn't s a big deal, but Chad didn't find it funny.

"Are you kidding? You're joking about with when our friend and godchild could be in danger right now!" Chad yells at Ginny. She loses her smile and glares.

"You're taking it too serious, Charming. Serena is the most cautious person we know. She probably sipping iced tea for all we know." Ginny glares at Chad as she spoke.

"Eight days, Ginny. They've been gone for eight days without talking to any of us," Chad replies. He turns to look at Ben and points at him. "All because you couldn't take a joke!"

"Oh so now it's my fault she decided to leave?" Ben asks sarcastically.

"YES! It's completely your fault! You and your evil girlfriend who can't seem to mind her own damn business."

"Mal was just trying to better my relationship with my daughter. Unlike you and Ariel, who've been spinning lies to Serena and my daughter, making me out to be the bad guy."

"Don't you get it, Ben, you are the bad guy! You are the villain in this story. You left Serena alone. You disappointed Athena before she was even born. I saw how you just went about your life and dated Audrey as Serena was left to raise her daughter by herself. Don't play the victim and say that everyone is against you having a bond with that sweet angel. YOU are the reason you can't have a bond with her." Chad shouted. He rubbed his face from exhaustion. "It was a mistake coming here, let's go."

Before either girl could stop Chad, he left the room. Audrey followed behind soon after. That left Ben and Ginny alone. Ben sat down on his bed and leaned his face in his hands.

"Well, is this a crap fest." Ginny jokes and sits down next to Ben. Ben looked up with a blank stare.

"Go on, tell me that it's all my fault." Ben says, giving up on fighting and stopping people for telling the truth.

"Come on, Ben. Don't be so hard on yourself." Ginny says.

"Why not? I deserve it, don't I? Everything Chad said is right." A moment of silence occurred before Ginny let out a huff.

"Look, I don't know everything that happened that night, so I'm going to try and make assumptions because I don't have that right. All I know is that you are trying. I see that, lots of people see that." Ginny hoped her words might cheer Ben up, but it didn't have much effect until, "Serena sees it too. Don't think that she hasn't. She just worried about Athena's happiness."

Ben looks to Ginny with hope in his eyes. Those words definitely changed something.

"I'm sure that once you and her talk, alone this time, you'll work something out."

"That's gone be hard, don't you think? We have to find her first." Ben tells her. Ginny shrugs and stands up to leave.

"Oh, don't worry. I know where she is." Ginny replied, leaving the room quickly with a stunned Ben staring after her.

WHERE HAVE THEY GONE, GINNY?

SORRY IF IT'S A WEAK CHAPTER.